A device of this species is for instance known from DE 10 2005 056 191 B4. This device comprises a coin separating unit with a sloping base plate, entraining elements assigned to said base plate to entrain and feed coins resting on the base plate and a flap disposed within said base plate. Coins present in a lower portion of the base plate are fed toward said flap by the entraining elements. The flap coacts with a closing mechanism adapted to synchronize the opening and closing of the flap with the movement of said entraining elements. Individual coins transported by the entraining elements can be passed through the flap and separated this way. The coin separating unit is of rotating and/or revolving type since the base plate is disk shaped and the entraining elements assigned to said base plate are rotatable around a pivot axis.
To feed coins to the lower portion of the base plate they are entered into the device via a charge aperture and along a guide face fed to a cover means that is spaced from the coin separating unit and that serves as a feed unit. Said guide face is designed and arranged in such a way that coins being entered are exclusively fed to said lower area of the base plate and stored there in unsorted condition.
Even though this prior-art device has been used with generally acceptable results it is yet affected by the drawback that its performance is hampered when large amounts of coins are entered. This is particularly due to an increase of coin weight in the lower portion of the base plate and to possible jams which inhibit that each and any individual coin can be fed from a stock of coins. Moreover, the coin separating unit might get damaged by foreign matters adhering to the coins and/or detrimentally affected in its functional performance.
It is an object of this present invention therefore to improve a device for receiving coins in such a way that large amounts of coins also can be received as well as separated reliably and quickly and that the adverse influence of foreign matters introduced along with the coins on the coin separating function and/or on the performance of the coin separating unit may be reduced.